Last Friday, I did a webcast for Windows IT Pro on Moving to 64-bit with a special focus on SQL Server.  It is also most likely cross listed with SQL Magazine webcasts.  Here is the link.  http://www.sqlmag.com/events/Index.cfm?Filter=Event&fID=1164

During this webcast, I polled the attendees (about 140) on some issues that you may find interesting.  Here are the results:

Do you have SQL Server 2005 running in production in your organization?

No – All production servers are SQL 2000 or earlier (59.5%)
Yes – We have 1 or 2 systems “Live” (34.7%)
Yes – The Majority of our production systems are SQL 2005 (8.8%)
Yes – We are completely switched to SQL 2005 (0%)

Do you have SQL Server running in a 64-bit environment?

Yes – We have at least one production system using SQL Server 2000/2005 64-bit (26.5%)
Yes – We have a majority of our systems on SQL Server 2000/2005 on a 64-bit platform (2.4%)
No – That’s why I am here (71.0%)

Are you running Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition in your environment?

- At lease one server is Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition is running in Production (38.6%)
- A majority of our production servers are Enterprise Edition of Windows Server 2003 (28.7%)
- A majority of our production servers are Standard Edition of Windows Server 2003 (23.7%)
- We only run Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition in our production Environment (4.9%)
- We are still on Windows 2000 or earlier (3.9%)

Do you currently use SQL Server for BI in your environment?
- Yes (55.2%)
- No (40.9%)
- Not Sure (3.8%)

Do you currently have many "small/medium" SQL Servers running in your production enviornment?

- Yes (78.6%)
- No (18.4%)
- Not Sure (2.9%)

Has this session helped to shed light on the benefits of 64-bit technology?

- Yes (89.7%)
- No (3%)
- Not Sure (7.1%)

Think about a specific project that you are working on.  Which 64-bit platform are you leaning towards?
- X64 (69.6%)
- Itanium (16.1%)
- Neither – I am sticking with 32-bit (0%)
- Not Sure (14.1%)

After examining these results, it would appear that the benefits of 64-bit technology is being considered seriously by most databse professionals.  The x64 platform seems to be the popular choice at this time.SQL Server 2005 has close to 50% penetration in this survey's respondents' production environment - not even a full year after RTM.  But, there are still many systems that have not been upgraded yet.